Turn urine into drinking water in the universe

Before the end of the mission, astronauts on the space shuttle Atlantis made a special experiment: turning urine into edible water.

>>> Atlantis - A two-century shuttle

Astronauts test how an existing water filtration system works in microgravity, hoping space astronauts can use water-to-water conversion technology. in future tasks.

This filter technology is called the Forward Osmosis Bag (FOB). It has the ability to clean not only urine but also sweat and other unclean liquids.

NASA scientists introduce the FOB system. Photo: Wired

The FOB system consists of a bag of the size of a hot water bottle, with two empty compartments divided by a semi-permeable membrane. An amount of sugar water is introduced into the inner cavity, while the water is not cleaned into the empty cavity.

Clean water passes through the membrane into the inner cavity through a process known as transient osmosis. The water in this compartment can then be drunk.

FOB works well in the earth environment. A single filter bag can clean about 1.14 liters of water for 4 to 6 hours, and can be reused approximately 40 times to bring approximately 40 liters of drinking water. However, scientists are not sure how FOB will work in micro-gravity environments, and the test of Atlantis astronauts is the first attempt.

Astronauts attempted a total of 6 bags, but no one tested the amount of water they had available after cleaning. Instead, they put clean water bags on the earth.

However, FOB is not expected to be the main source of water for astronauts, at least in the near future. " It can be used in emergency situations, " said Howard Levine, a FOB project scientist at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

The International Space Station (ISS) now has a urinal recycling system for use by astronauts. However, the system costs $ 250 million to consume a large amount of power, while the FOB system does not consume so much.